Pacific Controls Final 5 Minutes to Beat Titans

Stockton, Calif. -
Christian Maraker scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds Monday night to lead Pacific to a 83-74 Big West Conference victory over Cal State Fullerton.
Bobby Brown led the Titans with 22 points and Jermaine Harper added 19 as Fullerton stayed in the game until the final five minutes with its perimeter shooting.
Johnny Gray added 21 points for the Tigers, who were coming off a shocking 12-point home loss to UC Riverside.

The Tigers broke a 66-66 tie to outscore Fullerton 17-8 in the final 4:32 to improve to 10-5 overall and 1-1 in the Big West while the Titans fell to 8-5 and 2-2. Pacific scored 12 unanswered points until Bobby Brown made a layup at 0:55 to make the score 78-68.

Pacific made 20 of 23 free throws while Fullerton made only 2 of 4. Pacific outrebounded the Titans, 42-31, as each team made 9 turnovers.

"I thought we were in trouble in the first half," said Head Coach Bob Burton. "We were hitting some tough shots. Bobby was terrific, but you can't expect that to happen the whole game. Meanwhile, they were scoring out of their offense. We had no inside game.

"Their big guys (Maraker and Gray) stepped up and we couldn't stop them."

Justin Burns picked up his third and fourth fouls in the first three minutes of the second half and Pacific erased what had become a 4-point lead after the Titans led by 2 at the half. Fullerton's biggest lead was 55-49 at 13:00 when Frank Robinson's dunk capped an 8-0 run.